Winter Programming: S-B Pinewood Derby Race - Relive your youth.

[striperman36]

Yes it would be, but we couldn't post the pictures.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by blondterror

I will bring 2 cars I helped my son build about 10 yrs ago. He had 4 yrs of PD and made some great cars.

The Silver Streak won every race it ran and the gator car was very fast too. Its all about the axels, wheels, wt location, total wt, and running on 3 wheels

We'll work on the rules for clarification (plenty of time) but stock class will probably be common BSA rules - all 4 wheels touching, no grooved axles, no lightened wheels (some sanding is fine), but unlimited would allow significant tweaks, and maybe a class for those old racers - Nice cars.

Originally Posted by striperman36

It would cost more than a 10 buck entry fee.

My son's from last year (no, he did most of the work).

[striperman36]

Unlimited Class? Like no rules except be built from the BSA kit?

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by striperman36

Unlimited Class? Like no rules except be built from the BSA kit?

Yep. You could use razor wheels, run on three wheels - ride on one and glue the other three to the roof , rail ride, groove axels, etc...

No motor or power though.

Could be interesting. But we can't run those against cars running stock, so different divisions. I figure I'll do one stock and one unlimited.

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Yep. You could use razor wheels, run on three wheels - ride on one and glue the other three to the roof , rail ride, groove axels, etc...

No motor or power though.

Could be interesting. But we can't run those against cars running stock, so different divisions. I figure I'll do one stock and one unlimited.

Weight limit the same, no attached propulsion, unfortunately, the bullet car failed the test. No mini-belt sanders, that worked pretty good though. The balloon car didn't have enough acceleration, the aka-seltzer soda car was too messy

[Striperknight]

Originally Posted by blondterror

I will bring 2 cars I helped my son build about 10 yrs ago. He had 4 yrs of PD and made some great cars.

The Silver Streak won every race it ran and the gator car was very fast too. Its all about the axels, wheels, wt location, total wt, and running on 3 wheels

Those cars would not pass down here. All 4 wheels must touch and
you can extend the wheels more than the measurements in the kit.
There was a big fight so we have 3 pages of rules.

One of my son's cars before the wheels

[blondterror]

Our troop allowed use of axel locations extended out on the body. The wheels were trued & polished on a mandrel and the axels polished on a drill press. Std graphite lubrication. Those slots in the body are often not true and many kids cars self destruct over several runs with axels falling out of the slots.

Axel holes made with drill press so they were dead on. Some weight is far back in the car... car still has to track straight to be fast... more stored kinetic energy since the start is on an incline... cars with more weight in the rear 1/2 of the car accelerate past other cars as they hit the flat part of the track.

The unlimited class will be a kick... I've still got plenty of other unmentioned tricks in my tank.

Some plug shops will turn into speed shops the 2 wks before the "Derby"


BT

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by blondterror

Our troop allowed use of axel locations extended out on the body. The wheels were trued & polished on a mandrel and the axels polished on a drill press. Std graphite lubrication. Those slots in the body are often not true and many kids cars self destruct over several runs with axels falling out of the slots.

Axel holes made with drill press so they were dead on. Some weight is far back in the car... car still has to track straight to be fast... more stored kinetic energy since the start is on an incline... cars with more weight in the rear 1/2 of the car accelerate past other cars as they hit the flat part of the track.

The unlimited class will be a kick... I've still got plenty of other unmentioned tricks in my tank.

Some plug shops will turn into speed shops the 2 wks before the "Derby"


BT

Might need to have a kids class too.

"Some plug shops will turn into speed shops the 2 wks before the "Derby""

[beamie]

I still may have 3 of my cars around from the 70's. One of them won the grand championship in my area. Then went onto the regionals and lost.

I remember my dad lubricating the wheels with sperm whale oil whick I still have a bottle of. Apparently this oil never sticks to avoid that initial start. Watch makers use to use it. Don't know if it helped but those were some fun days......

[The Dad Fisherman]

I think if you want to race a car....you need to build a car, fresh this season.....not re-use em. Thats part of the fun.

[Sea Dangles]

I'll go topless if you are wearing a blindfold.
I still have the car that Hab painted for me,this car went 16-0 on race day no matter which lane they put it on it won.
I'll be happy to go into details about shimming the axles with wax paper so it tracks straight.
What type of track are you looking at John?

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by beamie

I still may have 3 of my cars around from the 70's. One of them won the grand championship in my area. Then went onto the regionals and lost.

I remember my dad lubricating the wheels with sperm whale oil whick I still have a bottle of. Apparently this oil never sticks to avoid that initial start. Watch makers use to use it. Don't know if it helped but those were some fun days......

He said Sperm Whale , eh he eh he he eh he... (Insert Beavis & Butthead)

Interesting. Bet that smells great 40 years later. I remember my dad using graphite but I also remembering him pour in molten lead too

Originally Posted by The Dad Fisherman

I think if you want to race a car....you need to build a car, fresh this season.....not re-use em. Thats part of the fun.

Absolutely, main race and outlaw should be new builds. But a classics race for older cars could be cool. Point is, we have options on figuring this stuff out. If there is enough interest, we'll hammer out the rules.

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

I'll go topless if you are wearing a blindfold.
I still have the car that Hab painted for me,this car went 16-0 on race day no matter which lane they put it on it won.
I'll be happy to go into details about shimming the axles with wax paper so it tracks straight.
What type of track are you looking at John?

I'm looking at using a 40 foot, 4 lane good quality PVC track. It is a pretty fast track, we have an electric timer and may have automated scoring software by then.

Attached is a pic...

[Clammer]

THIS THREAD SHOULD BE MOVED TO SCUPPERS OR PLAY TIME ><><><><

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Clammer

You all are F #^&#^&#^&#^&#^& nuts or getting old real f #^&#^&#^&#^&#^& quick ..............................I think it would alot more fun to have a blindfold / tittie testing contest ><><><><><

I'm in if you are supplying the talent

[Raven]

LOL ..... ORIGINAL i must say

days of OLD

[Clammer]

SLIP THAT,S NOT A PROBLEM ;;

THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOUR F #^&#^&#^&#^&#^& MASSIVE HANDS WOULD SWEEZE THEM LIKE GRAPES

[Canalman]

If I could enter 5 cars I would, phenomenal idea!!

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Canalman

If I could enter 5 cars I would, phenomenal idea!!

Well, if we have 4 divisions and you a spawn a child between now and then, sure .

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by Clammer

SLIP THAT,S NOT A PROBLEM ;;

THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOUR F #^&#^&#^&#^&#^& MASSIVE HANDS WOULD SWEEZE THEM LIKE GRAPES

So? If you can supply the talent, we'll be there.

[Canalman]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Well, if we have 4 divisions and you a spawn a child between now and then, sure .

Don't scare me like that! If I had a child between now and then, he would certainly not be using the band saw!

-Dave

[striperman36]

So 4 divisions, we gonna get the boobalator boot too?


So what are the division rules?

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by striperman36

So 4 divisions, we gonna get the boobalator boot too?


So what are the division rules?

We need some more people saying "I'm in" before we get some deeper planning going. Then we'll have some people with experience running a race get rules established early (like me, TDF, maybe some other with previous pack / district level experience) on so we can minimize the questions and interpretation (err, cheating - We are lying fishermen after all merging with the next highest lying sport - racing).

I'm *thinking* and have been thinking about it a bit.

All classes:

Powered by gravity - no motors, magnets, rockets, yada, yada
Dry lubes only, zero oils - this is a rule for the track we'll likely use.
No buying premade cars period. You must build the car - or HAVE BUILT the car for some historical race.

Stock Class: BSA Kit, official block, wheels, and nails only. Basically no grooved axles, no cut / lightened wheels, no canting, all 4 wheels must roll, unmodified axle slots or filled / repaired same wheelbase / location, 5 ounces. The same as most BSA events and what most people here will have experience with. Car must be built from BSA parts. No buying modified parts or modified from BSA parts.

For example, you could buy extra BSA stock axles to find straighter ones but you can't buy speed axles, you can buy extra wheels if needed, but not modified ones.

Modified Class: BSA Kit, must be user built official block.

OK to modify examples: grooved axles, cut / lightened wheels, canting axles, rail riding, axle slots or filled / repaired, any wheelbase / location as long wheels do not extend beyond front or back of car, 5 ounces.

For example, you can buy speed axles, you can buy speed wheels if wanted. But you must build from stock BSA block kit. NO online kits.

Retro class: Some kind of retro class or old racer that you or your kid raced in the past - no new builds. Must conform to or real close to stock BSA rules.

Kids Class: Stock BSA rules listed above, built by your kid or you and your kid - CAN be kid's BSA car for current year.

[striperman36]

I'm in

[Ryan560]

I saw this post and had to dust off my old cars, some good memories building these with my pops. I'd love to build another but can't find the kits anywhere around here, The hobby store next town over has the rockets but no cars..I'd be interested in this

[Clammer]

Damn , Ryan

let me sell them ><><><><

[Ryan560]

Didn't know there was a market for these things clammer,
they would probably just get x-rayed for there secret weight placement

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by Ryan560

Didn't know there was a market for these things clammer,
they would probably just get x-rayed for there secret weight placement

Beep, Beep!!

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Ryan560

I saw this post and had to dust off my old cars, some good memories building these with my pops. I'd love to build another but can't find the kits anywhere around here, The hobby store next town over has the rockets but no cars..I'd be interested in this

Nice cars. Real nice cars. How long ago?

You can get the kits at any Boy Scout shop or online from Scoutstuff.org (shipping is more $ than the kit)

Newer kits (last year or two) are faster out of the box than older kits though older kits with lots of tweaks can be as fast as newer kits with same tweaks. We made sure our scouts ran the newer kits.

[Ryan560]

Thanks John, these where from 1987-90'

[quick decision]

Is this somethinhg we would bring our kids to or just adults?